Blasty allows writers to sign up their books, and then continually monitors Google for infringing copies of content. Each suspect link is flagged to the writer’s dashboard, and the writer is given the opportunity to “blast” (eradicate) the link from Google with a simple click! No paperwork, no cease and desist notifications, no time-consuming and frustrating dealings with pirates.

Intrigued, I signed up. In four months, I’ve blasted 403 copyright infringements on 8 books.

Per Blasty: “Each time you click on “Blast,” a copyright removal procedure under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) is automatically initiated, resulting in the complete elimination of the infringing webpage from Google on a worldwide basis. Since Blasty has been approved by Google’s Legal Department as a trusted removal partner, your “Blasts” will be approved much faster than regular removal requests submitted through Google’s dedicated webform.”

The site is still in beta-testing and the developers continue to look for new authors. If you join now, there is no fee! Here is an invitation if you’re interested: https://www.blasty.co/invitation/gh5WX8i4. You can also use the link above.

I don’t open most of the links as it’s obvious that the site is pirating my work (offering a “free pdf” or “read online” or “free epub” – none of which I offer). Some of these may be phishing sites, yet I’ve opened a few links and seen lovely comments from readers stating that the free read of my book was great. This is the real thing.

Sadly, I have seen other bloggers’ books show up next to mine. Yes, your books.

A Few Notes

1) Blasty has a FAQ section and short video demonstrating how to use the site correctly and efficiently.

2) You will only be able to load one book at sign up, which Blasty will use to verify that you are the copyright holder. This can take 12 days, though that can be reduced if you share an “invitation” like the one above with 3 other authors. I waited the 12 days as I wanted to try the site before recommending. Once verified, you can add the rest of your books at one sitting.

(Update – please note that one commenter below noted that the wait is now quite a bit longer – about 6 weeks. Still worth it in my opinion).

3) The Blasty Dashboard is easy to navigate. When you sign in, it will show you a list of suspicious Google links, and you will then have the choice to ‘Blast’ them away or ignore them.

4) Be careful not to blast legit blogger sites where your books have been featured or reviewed. Ignore them or add approved sites to a “white list” so they won’t be flagged at all.

5) You can ‘unblast’ if you’ve blasted something in error.

6) Occasionally you will be asked to review a blast as Google suspects it might be a legit site. This has happened about 6 times to me. I’ve reviewed and given a small explanation as to why the site is infringing on my content. For example, “This site is offering my book as a pdf. I do not offer pdf versions of my book.” Easy.

7) Rejected blasts. A rejected blast is where Google determines that there was no copyright infringement, and therefore, they reject your blast. They don’t like this as you are telling them to blast a legitimate site into orbit. I’ve had 1 reject out of 403 blasts, a medical site that mentioned “The Bone Wall.” Oops. That occurred early in my use of the site and hasn’t happened since. Too many of these will impact your account.

8) I check my dashboard every two weeks or so. It takes about 5 minutes at most. This is fast, easy, and painless.

Thanks for stopping by and for the follow, Brian. I’m glad you enjoyed this post. Unfortunately my free trial of Blasty ran out, and I elected not to pay the monthly fee going forward. I’m not certain it was the wisest decision, but *sigh* that’s where I am now. Have a great day and Happy Writing!

I’ve blasted another 200 or so since posting this. Now with 4 new books out, I expect another big round of blasts. You’ll be amazed, Mary at how many of your books are being pirated. It’s really sad. I’m glad you signed up. 🙂

That’s awesome. I think the more of us who band together to fight this, the better. Perhaps Google will see what a huge problem it is and be a little more proactive. While the service is free, it’s a no-brainer. 🙂

I hope you find it worth signing up, Wendy. Since writing the post, I’ve blasted another 20 or so pirates. I think the more we fight this, the more Google will realize it’s a big problem. Thanks for stopping by!

Many thanks for this, Diana! I used your invite and signed up. Have to admit I almost entered some fellow writers’ email addresses to have my signup handled in 1 day rather than 42, but somehow that didn’t seem right. Like you, I want to have some experience with Blasty before recommending it (plus using colleagues’ info for my own benefit). But I’m grateful to you for bringing attention to this service.

I’m glad you’re giving it a try. I think you’ll be pleased, Audrey. And the more of us who fight piracy, the better. Perhaps when Google has to process thousands of these, they’ll realize this is a big problem and take stronger steps to prevent it in the first place! Happy Writing 🙂

I think the pirates have been far ahead of us and we are just catching up a bit, Sarah. I’m hoping that Google will step to the plate eventually and take a stronger stand against pirating sites. I also hope that eventually ebooks won’t be so easy to copy. It is disheartening, but at least we can finally do something about it!

This looks perfect, Diana. I just got a Google alert about a site offering my book (one of my non-fiction) for free. I’ve been pondering what to do about it. This sounds perfect. It seems it would be simple to identify illegitimate sellers, but not when I realize lots of bookselllers buy my book on Amazon and then resell it to their audience. That’s not illegal. Free tho–that’s simple.

The illegit sites are quite easy to spot, Jacqui. Most of their URL’s don’t look like real websites with real content. And offering your book “free” is an obvious problem. If you aren’t sure of whether a site is legit of not, you can always ignore the blast. With so many books out there, this may be a great service to try. 🙂

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from D. Wallace Peach is strictly prohibited. Reblogs and social-media shares are welcome; however, any use of posts, excerpts, photos, and links must give full and clear credit to “D. Wallace Peach,” and/or “Myths of the Mirror Blog” with links to the original content.